Aishwarya Rai with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Aishwarya Rai with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Peak Ash beauty... 

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam: Exquisite

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam: Exquisite, carved in stone face of an Indian icon
 

Aishwarya Rai on the sets of Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam

 

Aishwarya Rai's profile in Hum dil de Chuke Sanam (1999)

 Find a flaw. Go ahead. 

 The faultless Aishwarya Rai. 

Aishwarya Rai with Salman Khan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

 

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam 
 

 

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

 

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam

 

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

 

Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
 

Aishwarya Rai on the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)

Aishwarya Rai on the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)

Archiving Aishwarya Rai's career defining role and looks: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Archiving Aishwarya Rai's career defining role and looks: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Neeta Lulla created these exquisite looks for Ash in the film. 

Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)

 

Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)

Rare pics from the set. 

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam: The fashion moment that was this pink Neeta Lulla

Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam: The fashion moment that was this pink Neeta Lulla 
 

Celebrating Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam: Trending online

 

Released 22 years ago today on 18 June 1999, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Aishwarya Rai's fourth film catapulted her to the stratosphere - from newcomer to Number One - in a gigantic leap. 

She's beyond breathtaking in the film. 

Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan on the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. 

Aishwarya Rai's outfits by Neeta Lulla

Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam was just ... a celebration of gorgeous Indian fabric and embroidery. And on a model of models, Aishwarya Rai.

Aishwarya Rai's epic year

1999 was Aishwarya Rai's breakthrough year. Though she made her debut years before (1997 in Iruvar) - and she was already famous beyond belief in 1993 when she became Miss World - with a double whammy of success movies Taal (L) and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (R) in 1999 - Rai ruled Bollywood. She also picked up a double Best Actress nomination for each respective film (and an unsurprising win for HDDCS!)

Plus the year she grinned her way through impressive advertising deals with Coca Cola - even though she was the first Pepsi gal (Hi i'm Sanju!) for the region. 

Update: PS: An ex classmate of Aishwarya Rai wrote this and we are not surprised:

"I studied for a year at Jaihind College, Mumbai, in the science stream. Aishwarya joined the college later, as she had initially joined KC College. Since KC College was quite close to my college, guys struck by her beauty in that college would come and stand at our college gates. She was strikingly beautiful even then. She would travel by train, and would board at Khar station. If we happened to be together, we would walk to college, which is a few minutes from Churchgate. Boys (and girls) would just stop to look at her in awe. She had a big group of friends and they would enter class at the last moment, and would always sit on the last bench. But they would sit in the first bench for the Physics lectures because we had a very strict teacher, and because Aishwarya wanted to impress the teacher. She was the apple of all the teachers’ eyes, especially the Physics lecturer who was the one to encourage her to appear in the college magazines, I think. She was very down-to-earth and good at her studies. Everyone called her the most beautiful girl in college and soon, she proved to be the most beautiful girl in the world.”

Aishwarya Rai outtakes from the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

click to enlarge

When every picture is perfection... Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai on the sets.... of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Glorious, gorgeous Ash Rai